Quote:But 'tummo' meditation is a by-product of the burning off of karma...and not chi related...right???

As I've said in another Thread that "chi" is like flour which can be used to make bread or noodles -- look different but all made from flour nevertheless; a basic material which can form the foundation of any endeavour one wishes to take, be it spiritual or martial. The generation of abnormally high body temperatures is one of the first signs of progress in chi development. When I was a student in London during the 70s, and having came from a tropical climate country, the cold winters were new to me and I used to circulate my chi to keep warm, not to the extent of the monks of course.

The meditation by the monks were described in the Harvard article as 'advanced meditation' Those were not advanced meditations, but meditations practiced to an advanced level. All meditations are basically simple, but it's the years and years of practice that give 'advanced' results produced by the monks.

I do know the meditation method the monks used; it's not much different from other 'chi gung' methods but the monks practiced them as a way of life and not only at weekends; it's all basically circulation of the chi at high speeds round the body and if it's true that 'chi' is electromagnetic in nature, then it explains the 'heat' generated when it is circulated at high speeds.

But first and foremost you have got to be able to circulate the chi in the first place and that's the difficult part; but after that it's a matter of what you want to do with it. The dangers of chi circulation is that people are tempted to circulate it round the brain to get psychic powers and that's when you hear of them getting mental disorders -- what the chinese called 'entering into evil fire' -- which accounts for the secretive nature of such practices and therefore not freely taught.

Quote: The dangers of chi circulation is that people are tempted to circulate it round the brain to get psychic powers and that's when you hear of them getting mental disorders -- what the chinese called 'entering into evil fire' -- which accounts for the secretive nature of such practices and therefore not freely taught.

I really wish i still had the time and patience for these discussions. It's been a long time since there was any REAL discussion in this section, i'm glad to see things finally starting to pick up again. Due to a lack of training options here, i can now see where the term "it's all Greek to me" came from, i'm currently in a "re-evaluation" stage in my training. I'm taking a long hard look at my beliefs in the martial arts and what brought me to those conclusions. I'm looking at what works or doesn't work for me and why. Is it due to improper training or just impracticle? If it works or doesn't work, why? I might even try to throw a couple of chiballs... right..any way. Just thought i'd check in and see whats going on...what's up with having 4 and 5 mods for each section? Things gotten that bad around here?

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Enjoy life while you can, you never know when things will change.

Quote:I'm looking at what works or doesn't work for me and why. Is it due to improper training or just impracticle?

What doesn't work to-day does not mean anything; things look very different when a couple more years of hard consistent work is put into it, especially when it comes to the IMA where things (unlike the EMAs) are never obvious and which requires a whole transformation of your mind and body. It was only in the last decade or so that I realise this, though I had done some IMA since the 70s.

I also realise that it is not looking for a better teacher that makes the difference, it is just doing and doing what you already know that really counts.

I wasn't referring to IMA specifically, more of MA in general. I'm not looking for "instruction" of any kind anymore, just working with what i have and with others i work with. I'm by no means an expert in anything but "a couple more years of hard consistent work"? I'm sure the 20+ years i've put in allows me to take a step back and evaluate what i've learned over the years to see why certain things work or don't work for ME. Thanks for the words of wisdom though, i'm sure i'm a better person for it.

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Enjoy life while you can, you never know when things will change.

Quote:I'm sure the 20+ years i've put in allows me to take a step back and evaluate what i've learned over the years to see why certain things work or don't work for ME. Thanks for the words of wisdom though, i'm sure i'm a better person for it.

Don't feel bad, bro. I said something very similar earlier in this thread and pretty much got laughed at.

_________________________"In case you ever wondered what it's like to be knocked out, it's like waking up from a nightmare only to discover it wasn't a dream." -Forrest Griffin